Why Jewish Mission?

Some evangelicals today have lost confidence in taking the gospel to jewish people. International Mission to Jewish People's CEO Joseph Steinberg explains why jewish mission must remain a priority.

Fifteen years ago, I was invited to speak at a special meeting where they called seventy Christian leaders together to consider evangelism in the Middle East.

As the final speaker, it was my job to summarise the day and point a way forward.

As I listened to the talks throughout the day, I found myself perplexed. I came expecting to hear excited conversation about a renewed commitment to mission in the Middle East. But instead all I heard were heated tit-for-tat arguments – some pro-Palestinian, some pro-Israel. None, however, mentioned mission or evangelism among either people group.

When I got up to speak I tried to focus on the main issue. ‘Surely,’ I said, ‘as Evangelicals there must be one thing we can all agree on – that Jesus, and sharing him with both Jew and Arab, must be the beginning of the solution. The only hope for peace in the Middle East is found in the Prince of Peace.’

And yet sadly, some shook their heads in disagreement. It seemed there were few there who could agree with me. 

Jewish people need to be saved

In answer to the question, ‘Why Jewish Mission?’ I can’t help thinking back to my perplexity that day. This continues to be a pressing issue that needs addressing in the church. 

There is no better place to look for insight than the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 10. He begins with the words: ‘Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.’ 

The first answer to the question must be because Jewish people, like all people, need to be saved. Paul goes on to say: ‘For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.’

There are people, like some at that meeting, who love the Jewish people and idealise Judaism so much that they believe Jewish people have their own way to God through their own religion. But Judaism doesn’t save. Jewish zeal, Paul tells us, is not based on knowledge.

Ironically, he said this to an exclusively Jewish audience in the land of Israel! Jewish people, like all people, need to be saved. 

How can they hear…? 

But it is not enough to know that Jewish people need to be saved. We need Jewish mission because, secondly, Jewish people need to know HOW to be saved. 

In Romans 10:13 Paul asks of the Jewish people, ‘How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?' How? How? How? How? Paul uses that word four times!

Often, people save the most important thing they want to say for last. So what were Jesus’ last, loving words before he went away for a long time? ‘Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”’ (Matthew 28) And, ‘But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8)

The most important thing Jesus told his disciples before he left was that he wanted them to reach the world with the gospel; to share HOW to be saved with both Jew and Gentile alike!

Prejudice withholds the gospel

But the Jewish disciples had never mixed with Gentiles; they were taught that doing so would make them unclean. Besides, surely the Jewish Messiah only came for Jewish people?

There was a serious issue of prejudice that prevented the gospel from being shared – and God had to intervene. So, he gave Peter the same dream three times: unclean animals came down from heaven in a sheet and Peter was told to get up and eat. In that dream we know God wasn’t only saying that pork sausages and streaky bacon sandwiches taste good – he was telling Peter and the Church that Gentiles need Jesus to make them kosher too. That same day Peter went to Cornelius’ house to preach the gospel and a family of Gentiles were grafted into Israel’s olive tree.

It was prejudice that kept the gospel from the Gentiles. And we face the same situation today, except in reverse.

But there is another prejudice that keeps the gospel from Jewish people. There are many in the Church today who, for one reason or another, either dislike or feel indifferent about Jewish people. And, sadly, this prejudice keeps far too many from sharing the gospel with them.

I often find myself wishing God would give the leaders of today’s Church the same dream he gave Peter, but in reverse. A dream of Jewish food coming down from the sky and God saying, ‘Go and eat – bagels taste great!’

GOD WILL SAVE!

Paul gives a third answer to the question, ‘Why Jewish Mission?’ in Romans 10:19: God saves! God has saved, is saving and will continue to save Jewish people! Quoting Moses he writes: ‘I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.’

Most Jewish people come to faith through the witness of Gentile Christians. I myself am eternally grateful that a Christian friend risked my anger to share Jesus with me. At the time I hated Jesus but my friend had the love and courage to share the gospel with me.

As I read the Bible and observed my friend's loving relationship with God, I became envious of his faith. I came to yearn for the same relationship with God he had – eventually surrendering my own heart to the Lord. Today, I shudder to think where I would be without my friend's loving witness and without Jesus.

This makes me supremely committed to mission, especially to my people. I want them to experience the same liberating freedom in Christ that I have known. As my friend made me envious, so God wants the Church to make Jewish people yearn for Jesus.

In the last verse of Romans 10 Paul quotes Isaiah, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’ He goes on to ask the question: ‘But did God reject his people?’ He answers in the strongest terms: ‘God forbid!’…

Why Jewish mission? Because God did not reject his people. Romans 11:29 tells us that ‘the gifts and call of God are irrevocable’… God will save but Jewish people first need to hear of the One who can save.

In conclusion…

At the end of that day on evangelism in the Middle East, a prominent church leader confronted me. She called me a meshumed - a word religious Jewish people use to insult other Jewish people who have become followers of Jesus. It means apostate or traitor.

Sad as that is, my only reaction to the ostracism of those who love my people too much or too little is the same as my final answer to the question ‘Why Jewish Mission?' It is the same answer Paul gave in Romans 1:16:

‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’